Pakistan wanted US help to mend relations with India; US rejects

With no other option left, Pakistan has sought the help of the United States to mediate in bilateral talks between India and Pakistan. Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, stated without the intervention of the US tension could only rise between the two neighbours.

However, the United States has rejected the latest request from Pakistan as the two neighbours are already engaged in bilateral talks, according to a top Pakistani diplomat. The diplomat told an audience in Washington a day after he met the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton. He was talking about the issue but Donald Trump administration pushed it back.

“When we asked the US, to play facilitating role…Why do we ask? Simply because we are not engaging bilaterally. And that bilateral disengagement is…a distraction. We want to focus, we want to move on the western side of the border, which we are not being able to because we have to watch our back from eastern side (of the border with India). That is not a healthy situation to be in,” Qureshi was quoted as saying by The Indian Express in response to a query at the US Institute of Peace.

“Now can you (United States) facilitate? The answer from them is no. They wanted bilaterally. But there is no bilateral movement,” Qureshi was quoted.

“If that lack of facilitation leads to escalation and some of the statements that have come out of late have not been very helpful,” the Pakistani foreign minister was quoted by the same paper. “The so-called surgical strikes and stuff like that doesn’t make sense. It does not, that’s politics.. there are elections around the corner,” Qureshi replied to a question.

Also read: Donald Trump slams India for ‘high tariffs’